How was the name "Fonthill" Chosen?

If you follow the Architect Design ™ blog you have probably seen at least one of his excellent posts on Fonthill Museum, Mercer Museum, and the Moravian Pottery and Tileworks. This Spring the traveling architect visited Doylestown in Bucks County, PA and toured all of the Mercer sites. His series of posts are packed with great photography and a wealth of information. In this post dated April 20, 2010 a guest poses a question in the comments section. “How was the name "Fonthill" Chosen? Is there any relationship between the choice of this name to William Beckford's legendary Fonthill Abbey, with it ever evolving towering Spire?” 

In the Entrance Hall at Fonthill Museum there is a display case full of interesting items. There are copies of many original Mercer documents, photographs of Henry at various ages, a page from the guest registry at Fonthill, sketches and pages from Henry’s notebooks. These two pages give us a glimpse into Henry’s ideas for naming his castle. 

I added a red arrow to this document to call your attention to one particular comment “Fonthill abandoned because of similar names in England & America”. Henry Mercer’s castle is located on a hill and natural springs are abundant throughout the grounds. You can see from the list of possible names that hill, water, spring and font are repetitive. Font means spring, choices such as Springhill, Fonthill, Northwell, and Hillwater seemed to keep recurring to Henry as describing the essence of the property. Although it was initially abandoned, in the end he returned to the name “Fonthill”. 

 The Spring House at Henry Mercer's Fonthill 

Construction of Willliam Beckford’s Fonthill Abbey was begun in 1795 near Hindon in Wiltshire, England. In Aberdeen, Scotland there is a bed & breakfast named Fonthill. In Ontario, Canada they have a town called Fonthill. There are also two estates in the United States bearing the name. Robert M. T. Hunter’s estate “Fonthill” was built in 1832 in Essex County, Virginia. He was known for serving as United States Senator, Confederate Secretary of State, and a Confederate States Senator during the Civil War. In the year 1847 Actor Edwin Forrest purchased farmland overlooking the Hudson River, in the Bronx neighborhood of Kingsbridge. He had a castle built for himself and his wife Catherine to reside in. Forrest chose to name the property Fonthill after William Beckford’s Fonthill Abbey. Construction of Henry Mercer’s Fonthill began in 1908.

 The Gazing Pool at Henry Mercer's Fonthill

By the way, the “M” in Robert M. T. Hunter stands for Mercer. Henry Chapman Mercer’s father had family from Maryland and Virginia. I wonder if there is a connection. Does anyone out there know if there is a relationship? Does anyone know of any other estates or castles named Fonthill?

 This stream feeds in to the gazing pool shown above

The water flows out of the pool and intersects with another stream in the woods

One of Henry Mercer's concrete bridges crosses a stream